Changes to the driving test regime will be announced tomorrow, as part of government plans to reduce deaths among young drivers and cut the number of road fatalities by 1,000 people over the next decade.

The roads minister, Jim Fitzpatrick, is considering introducing a driving syllabus that must be learned before tests, as well as splitting the test into four parts that can be taken separately. The government is widely expected to change the test criteria to proving "all-round competence", which will make it less likely that a learner will be failed for making a single error.

A target of lowering road deaths by a third by 2020, down from 2,940 in 2007, will be set as the government focuses on young motorists, whose high accident rate has alarmed ministers. The death toll for car drivers and passengers aged between 16 and 24 is 500 per year and a fifth of newly qualified drivers have an accident within a year of passing their test.

Motoring groups welcomed the road deaths target but warned that the government is running out of radical options to limit fatalities. In the past, moves such as introducing breathalysers and the compulsory wearing of seat belts had a major impact on lowering death rates.

Edmund King, AA president, said: "A specific target for younger drivers, as well as regions, would help concentrate minds and resources," he said.

The all-party transport select committee warned last year that government proposals for curbing road deaths among the young did not "address the urgency or gravity of the situation. The commission called for a curfew on young drivers carrying passengers to operate between 11 pm and 5 am. The MPs added that splitting the driving test and introducing a driving syllabus would push up the cost of tests and exclude significant numbers of people.

Fitzpatrick is also expected to recommend a 20mph speed limit for motorists driving on residential roads and near schools. He is also considering cutting the speed limit on dangerous rural roads from 60mph to 50mph.